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| In The News: 01-03-2014 Data Use Doubled In 2013 The average U.S. cellphone user used 1.2 GB of data per month in 2013. That's double the average use for 2011. 4G networks combined with smartphones that just do more are behind the jump in consumption. Some carriers began to move away from unlimited data plans a couple of years ago, though T-Mobile and Sprint still offer the service. XP Still Popular As Support Deadline Nears Windows XP is still on 31% of systems accessing the Internet according to Netmarketshare.com. Windows 7 is the most popular operating system, found on 46% of computers and Windows 8 and 8.1 are on nearly 10% of systems, but that's expected to grow as people replace old systems. Mac OS X 10.8 and 10.9 account 4% of systems in use. Much-maligned Vista is on 3.5% of computers while other operating systems like Chrome and Linux account for less than 5% of the market. The high number of XP users is especially troubling considering that the end of security support for XP is just a few months away in April of 2014. 2014: Half Of All PCs Expected To Be Tablets Move over desktops and laptops – analysts say 2014 will be the year of the tablet with half of all personal computing devices shipped to stores and consumers being tablets. The majority of those tablets (65%) will have the Android operating system. At the beginning of 2013, tablets accounted for around 33% of all personal computers sold. ~ Cynthia Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version -- Shanker from Chennai, India writes: I couldn't configure my email client, as I don't have the server addresses of my mail accounts.Do mail providers do display them anywhere? Where should I look for them? Shanker, most e-mail providers do have that information available. You can usually find it on their website. Microsoft has the information for Outlook.com displayed on their site: My local e-mail provider offers the information as a PDF. I would suggest searching the name of your e-mail provider along with server settings. You might also find the information displayed in "support" on their website. If you can't find it easily, contact customer support. They should have that information readily on hand ~ Cynthia Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version
Paint 101- Crop, Resize And Rotate Images I recently wrote a tip explaining how shapes work in Paint and got so much positive feedback, I decided to explore the program further. Paint is a basic image editing software that comes free with Windows. In this article, I'll explain how to open a photo and use paint to crop, resize and rotate the image. You access paint by selecting the palette icon.
If you don't see the icon, just search for paint in your Start Menu or Search Charm and choose the Paint icon from the results. Let's say this is the photo I want to change. Start by opening Paint and clicking either the file menu or the drop-down arrow in the upper-left of the screen. Then choose Open. Select the image you wish to edit and choose Open. The image will open in Paint. Since this is clearly on its side, I'm going to rotate it by selecting the arrow beside rotate and choosing Rotate left 90 degrees from the drop-down menu. You can choose other angles of rotation or to flip the image horizontally or vertically. Now the image appears upright. One way to alter the image is to resize it. This can be especially helpful when you import very large images from digital cameras that are too large for e-mails or to insert in printed material. Choose Resize. You'll have the option to change the size by Percentage or by Pixels. If maintain aspect ratio is checked, you'll be protected from accidentally stretching your image in one direction so that it appears distorted. If you need something to be a specific size and it's a pattern or solid color that wouldn't be affected by stretching in one direction or the other, you can choose not to check that option. If you resize and image and it looks like a funhouse mirror, it's probably because you didn't check Maintain aspect ratio. Since I know the maximum size of an image that I can insert into an article is 450 pixels, I'm choosing to resize the image to be 450 pixels wide. Select OK and your image will be resized. My image is now smaller. You can also make images larger, but you will lose clarity in the picture. Another option is to adjust the Skew right or left. Here I've adjusted with 20 degrees vertical skew. Here's the resulting image. It's a useful tool for achieving certain effects. Another helpful option is the Crop tool. To crop, you first select the shape you want to crop with. You can choose rectangular or choose to make your selection freehand. To crop, click the left mouse button and drag it over the area you wish to select. Release the mouse button when you've finished the selection. Select crop again. Your photo will crop to the selection. If you have a steady hand, you can use the freehand crop. From the example below, you can see that I do not. These easy-to-use tools can be quite helpful. ~ Cynthia Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version -- Liz from Massachusetts writes: Printing takes too long in Windows 8 with switching back and forth instead of just clicking 'print' from the old menus. I've gotten used to the starting and closing process, but I like the old way better. Windows 8 is not friendly for someone just using it for banking, e-mail and shopping. OR for someone advanced in age, too much new stuff to learn! Liz, I'm not sure which programs you're talking about, but there are quick print options in a lot of programs in Windows 8.1. If you're using Word 2013 – There's a quick print icon right up at the top of the screen. You'll also see the print icon at the top of the screen in Internet Explorer. And if you'd like to make printing a little easier in Outlook 2013, you can add the print icon to to the Quick Access Toolbar by selecting the drop-down arrow in the upper-left corner and choosing Print from the menu. The reason print commands are becoming less prominent in programs is that more and more communication is going paperless. Documents are shared and stored electronically as opposed to being printed. Hope these tips can make printing a little quicker for you. ~ Cynthia Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version Do you have a question for us? Ask it here!
Don't Be a Victim Of RFID Hacking! Passports, Credit Cards, And More All Have RFID Chips... And Hackers Could Get Your PERSONAL Data Off Them! ONE EASY WALLET PROTECTS YOUR SENSITIVE DATA! 3 Card Slots + A Pocket for Cash/Passports! Keep EVERYTHING Ready, But Protected! It Wasn't Your Choice To Have RFID Chips... But It IS Your Choice To Protect Yourself!
Sometimes Technology Makes It TOO Easy... You know how it is, something comes along and makes stuff simpler for everyone. Well, guess who's part of "everyone"? Thieves. Credit cards and debit cards can be scanned by all sorts of devices. Heck, there's even new electronics you can attach to your phone to let you process a credit card payment anywhere you are, right on your smartphone! You better believe it that thieves know how this stuff works. According to recent articles, using nothing more than the same tools a payment processor uses, thieves could potentially make a tool to scan your card in the time it takes them to walk past you on the street! Even an ordinary laptop can utilize radio waves to copy and clone cards - that's a scary thought! Do YOU know what kind of information your credit card has stored in it? But guess what? Protecting yourself is just as easy! This RFID-resistant credit card holder encases your cards and prevents anyone from just walking by and causing you to be a victim of "wireless identity theft" (look it up, it's real!) Tough and portable, these security wallets shield your contactless cards from all sorts of unsavory scanning. Basically, if your cards are in here, you're not the "easy target" anymore. Now you're protected! And this isn't just for one or two cards, either! THREE special card slots! AND A pouch for everything else! That's more than enough for anyone's important cards! Credit cards, IDs, debit cards, even your passport! Put them in here and you won't have to worry at all! And honestly, it's just a great way to protect your cards, too! If you've ever had a credit card break or get damaged, you know why that's important! You're stuck having to call and inform them to cancel it, that you need a replacement, and then you have to wait WEEKS just to get the new card! Some of us rely on those debit cards so we don't have to walk around with all our cash 24/7! Protects Your Money Before You Use It! Seeing as it's only $8.97 with FREE US shipping on any order over $5... you're already protecting your money! That's one dirt-cheap way to prevent identity theft! http://store.worldstart.com/product/9354 Sale ends Saturday and these run up to $12.97!!
BYOD: Five Important Points If you own a business and allow your employees to bring their personal devices to work (known as BYOD) it's vital that you have a clear policy your employees can easily understand. How you present your policy is as important as what your policy contains. Rather than distribute the policy via email, hold a company-wide meeting at which you introduce the BYOD plan in a formal presentation. By holding a meeting, you can answer any employee questions and get a direct sense of how clear your policy really is. Distribute hard copies of the policy at the end of the meeting (if you hand it out at the beginning employees are apt to read it instead of concentrating on your presentation.) Include a signature page that clearly states the penalty for failing to adhere to the BYOD policy and require all employees to sign it indicating that they have received and understand the policy. Head on over to WorldStart to learn more! -- TuneIn Radio: Listen To Thousands Of Stations For Free TuneIn Radio is one of the most popular radio apps around, but I have to say that I think it looks especially nice on Windows 8. You can complain about the relative scarcity of apps for Windows 8, but you can't say that the apps they have aren't pretty. TuneIn is a free app that puts thousands of radio stations all over the world at your fingertips. As with any other Windows 8 App, you find it in the Windows App store. Since it's free, just click or tap Install to download. When you launch the app, you'll see the option to browse by local radio, music, sports, news, talk, location, language or podcasts. Under local I see a variety of FM stations in my area. Go to WorldStart to learn more about TuneIn Radio! CE from Mobile AL writes "Can you use an external hard drive on different computers, so that you can store things on both computers to the external hard drive?" Hi, CE. Thanks for the great question! The answer to your question is not only "yes", but that this is a great way to save space on your main hard drive and keep Windows running at optimum speed by not junking up the hard drive. It also helps if you have multiple computers that you regularly use (for instance, for many years I used a desktop at home and a laptop when I was on the go) and need to share files between them External hard drives come in two basic flavors. You have your portable external hard drive which is portable, made from a laptop hard drive, tops out around 3 TB and a little more expensive than the desktop version. You always pay more for portability. Just click WorldStart for more on this helpful tip! -- Mary from Phoenix, AZ writes "I have Windows Vista. I have over 800 pictures in my Windows Live Photo Gallery and I would like to put them all on a memory card, like the one that fits in my digital camera. What size memory card do I need to use and also, how do I export the photos on this memory card?" Hi, Mary. Well, to start with the photos are not actually IN your Live Photo Gallery, photo gallery is just a way to catalog your pictures. Your pictures are actually on your hard drive in your pictures directory. Found in the image that follows: As to your size question… have you ever heard someone say "Size doesn't matter"? Well, when it comes to your memory card, size DOES matter. A lot. But the size that you'll need is determined entirely by the amount of space that your pictures are occupying on your hard drive. Here's how you determine that. Want more? Check out WorldStart! For stories, jokes, quotes and cartoons every day, sign up for our Just for Grins newsletter.
Picture Correct PictureCorrect brings you an assortment of photography tips, tricks, and techniques to help you improve your shots. When you arrive at the site, you'll find an assortment of featured tips, photography news, and a navigation menu at the top. The navigation menu offers you the following options: About Us, Equipment Guide, Daily Featured Photos, and the large button that will whisk you away to the Photography Tips and Tutorials. I think this site offers you more great advice to help you take better photos! Check it out today! ~Amanda Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version -- Abandoned America Check out Matthew Christopher's photography at Abandoned America and browse galleries of abandoned spaces around America. I started with the Highlight Reel gallery to see if this was a site I wanted to share with you, and after taking a look I knew it was. These photographs are amazing! When you arrive at the site, you'll be automatically on the gallery page, so you can dive right into the photos. Other sections you may want to visit are: About – here you'll learn about Matthew Christopher and what inspires him, and learn about the website. Panoramas – this is definitely a section you'll want to check out. You'll find amazing panoramas. Just click to view them. I can't pick just one favorite image. I just love looking at abandoned places through photographs, I feel like the speak volumes about humanity: how we live, what we discard, change/progression. Check them out for yourself today! http://www.abandonedamerica.us/gallery.html ~Amanda Click here to rate this tip | Printer friendly version Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com
No Hard Drive Lives Forever... Hard drives are sensitive, complex mechanical devices. Most modern hard drives can hit over 7200 RPMs! But it's not without a cost: No matter HOW hard you try, 100% of hard drives will eventually crash. AND THAT ALMOST ALWAYS SPELLS DISASTER!
What do you do when your hard drive crashes? Well, there are only two outcomes...
1. If you don't back up your data: It's gone. Throw your hard drive in the trash and start fresh... because you are NOT recovering that data. A dead hard drive is just that. It's game over.
2. If you DO back up your data: You take your handy little Super Talent16GB back up flash drive and put all your saved files on your next computer. With JUST ONE CLICK! You don't lose a single file, and you don't spend the weekend wishing you had printed those vacation photos that you'll never get back. Which one would you prefer? There's only ONE reason not to back up data: it USED to be hard. It took a lot of time, it took expensive hardware or software, and it took some tech-savvy. You had to know file extensions, directories, the whole works. NOT ANYMORE! IT JUST GOT AS EASY AS ONE SINGLE CLICK! The Super Talent 16GB Instant Backup Flash Drive! NO software. NO set up. NO time consuming steps. All you do is plug it in and click "backup"! Could it BE any easier? The first time you pop it in, it just asks you what directories you want to backup. After that, every new backup is just a click away. What's great is that it keeps ALL of your directories and folders right in the order you have them on your PC. So you'll know EXACTLY where to find them on the flash drive or after you back them up to another PC! AND USING IT IS AS EASY AS A CLICK! LOOK! Think about everything you have on your computer: TONS of photos. ALL of your favorite music. Family videos and contact information. How about work documents, important files, sensitive documents. Even your passwords, e-mails, favorite web pages... EVERYTHING! After a crash, you can't get those photos back. The videos are now distant memories. And your passwords? Good luck remembering the ones you haven't had to type in for years. BUT IF IT'S BACKED UP, YOU WON'T LOSE ANYTHING! PERIOD! And with backing up this easy, you won't even have to think about it! This DEFINES User Friendly! We tested it out, just check out the video: Ultra Sleek, Ultra Secure, ULTRA FAST! It looks, feels, and acts just like your standard flash drive (of course, standard flash drives can't hold a candle to this one) so you know it's gonna be easy and lightweight to move or store. Plus, when you aren't using it, you can flip the drive around to protect the connector! YES! IT WORKS JUST LIKE A REGULAR FLASH DRIVE TOO! That's right - Just drag and drop files to it and use it like any other flashdrive! Talk about the best of both worlds!! Take it anywhere! Back up any PC or laptop! Use it for EVERYTHING! And if you're looking for fast, this thing is gonna BLOW YOU AWAY! This is a Super Talent high-speed USB 2.0 drive. We're talkin' up to 480Mbps of PURE SPEED! Last but not least: IT'S SECURE! When you back up anything on this drive, you can choose to encrypt it and guard it with a password of your choice! Nobody but you or those you trust get access to YOUR files. So all your tax, financial, and confidential documents? You can back them up too without worrying! FINALLY! It's not just passwords, either. It's full-power encryption! All those passwords on your PC don't mean a thing if you don't have SECURE backups. But with the included backup software, it's not a problem. A Backup Drive For UNDER $19! WOW! If you go anywhere to try and get a backup drive, you'll be looking $40 for the BARE MINIMUM! And those are bulky, heavy external hard drives that you really can't move or store. Personal note - I needed another backup drive for all my photography, and these were just PERFECT for the job! They're sooooooo handy! You will NOT find a faster, more convenient backup drive out there for just $18.97 with FREE US SHIPPING anywhere else! These are simply one of the coolest devices I've ever seen. PLEASE don't miss out on this deal. We only have so many and once they're gone... that's it. http://store.worldstart.com/product/8733 LIMITED QUANTITY - Seriously! If these run out, they're gone! We don't always get to offer items like this! And after Saturday this sale will end, with the price going back up to $22.97! HURRY TO THE STORE!
January Wallpaper Is Ready! Happy New Year! Our free January desktop background wallpaper is ready to go! Make sure you check out the 100+ other selections on the site! All can be found here and are 100% free: http://www.backcountrygallery.com/wallpaper/ Oh, and if you enjoy these images, please tell your friends!
For these and other great selections of desktop wallpaper, head to: http://www.backcountrygallery.com/wallpaper/ As always, the wallpaper is 100% free, so enjoy!
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| You can also view the current newsletter and archives online at Copyright, Disclaimer, Etc. ISSN: 1529-336X You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter (i.e. print it, store it) for your own personal use. You are also welcome to forward it, in its entirety, to friends and family. If you would like to reproduce this publication, or any part of it, in any other publication, be it web based or otherwise, you must contact us for permission. Any unauthorized re-distribution will be considered a copyright infringement and grounds for a lawsuit. Finally, you agree to try any advice contained or suggested in this newsletter at your own risk. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation (duh!) Did someone forward this to you? Get your free subscription here: If daily newsletters are too much to handle, then change your subscription to our Weekly Edition... If you need to change your email address, go here... "I don't want yer stinkin' email!" http://www.worldstart.com/subscriptions/ WorldStart, Inc. - 2620 Centennial Rd, Suite C / Toledo, OH 43617 - Phone: 1-800-915-2088 You are receiving this daily newsletter because you requested it either at Worldstart.com or one of our affiliates. | ||||||||
WorldStart Tech Tips 2014-01-03 
